According
to Alabama statutes, as ABC Board attorney David Peacock notes, "You can
have sugar, you can have malt, you have barley, you can have hops, you can have
tubing, copper and everything else, but if you put it all together in a store
and market it like it's going to be home-brewing stuff and have a book about how
to do it, it's a problem."

But that's not the real
problem here. The real problem is the fact that home-brewing in Alabama is
illegal to begin with, and the reaction to the stories on AL.com about the
ABC's actions show that a lot of readers agree.
Although the hobby was
legalized on a federal level more than 33 years ago, lawmakers in Alabama and
Mississippi — the only two holdouts — have stubbornly held on to the past when
voting on legislation to allow brewing at home.

It's time for that to
change, because this is not about cousin Billy mixing up some moonshine in the
bathtub, as some lawmakers seem to think.
Nor is it just a fast,
cheap way to get children drunk on hundreds of gallons of beer, another
argument put forth by our elected officials.

This is about personal
freedom, and allowing everyday Alabamians to enjoy a hobby that's legal in 48
other states.
Alabama is obviously not
averse to alcohol — each state-owned ABC store acts as a reminder that being in
the alcohol business brings a lot of revenue to the state — so why is
home-brewing shunned so vehemently?

Without home-brewing, there
would be no Samuel Adams, no Sierra Nevada, no Good People Brewing Company.
There's little doubt that Alabama's booming brewery scene — now at nine
breweries, with at least six more in planning — would cease to exist if
some of the state's brewers hadn't taken the risk to illegally ply their trade at home and develop their craft.

Nearly every weekend across
Alabama, friends gather in driveways and back yards to brew their own beer,
often without much worry that armed ABC agents will raid their illegal
operations. But, as the ABC enforcers in Birmingham proved when they removed
the home brewing supplies from Hop City, there's still a very real fear of
prosecution, a cloud of uncertainty that hangs over each illegal brew day and,
simply put, that needs to go away.

We live in a state where
many residents applaud limited government and fewer controls over our daily
lives, yet here's just one example of the state intervening where it doesn't
belong — in the kitchens and driveways of its residents. You can't have it both
ways.
Right To Brew, the state's
home-brewing advocacy group that has been working for years to change the law,
will bring legislation back to Montgomery when they convene in 2013.

While it's hard to see the
short-term good that can come out of the events at Hop City, I think the light
that's been shone on this ridiculous law will be beneficial to the cause of
every closeted home-brewer in the state, and will help lead to reforming these
outdated statutes.

It's time for all Alabamians, whether they enjoy home-brewing or not, to stand
up for personal freedom and tell our elected officials that we want the hobby
legalized. To learn more, visit alahomebrewing.org and freethehops.org.

Dan Murphy is Head Brewer
at the Fairhope Brewing Company, which is set to open at 914 Nichols Ave. in
Fairhope this fall. You may reach him at dan@fairhopebrewing.com